Filings Week Ending 2023 April 08

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2023-04-02 Search Period End: 2023-04-08 Earliest Case: 2023-04-03 Latest Case: 2023-04-07 Total Cases: 754 Total Transfers: 15 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 21.5% Of those, percentage pro se: 52.5% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Chestnut Hill Least stable with 10+ filings: Marlborough Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Norfolk Cases per day: 125 Housing crisis baseline max cases per day (UCL): 130 Housing crisis baseline min cases per day (LCL): 44 The number of filings this period is not statistically different from the pre-pandemic housing crisis baseline. -- Courts (n) Count Percent northeast 151 20.0% eastern 147 19.5% western 119 15.8% central 103 13.7% metro_south 76 10.1% southeast 69 9.2% quincy district 14 1.9% lowell district 9 1.2% malden district 9 1.2% lynn district 7 0.9% haverhill district 6 0.8% fall river district 5 0.7% cambridge district 4 0.5% chelsea district 3 0.4% lawrence district 3 0.4% salem district 3 0.4% attleboro district 2 0.3% barnstable district 2 0.3% bmc west roxbury 2 0.3% concord district 2 0.3% northern berkshire district 2 0.3% orleans district 2 0.3% somerville district 2 0.3% ayer district 1 0.1% bmc dorchester 1 0.1% dedham district 1 0.1% framingham district 1 0.1% natick district 1 0.1% palmer district 1 0.1% pittsfield district 1 0.1% plymouth district 1 0.1% waltham district 1 0.1% woburn district 1 0.1% worcester district 1 0.1% wrentham district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 592 1 Natural Person 162 753 Total 754 754 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 78.5% 0.1% Natural Person 21.5% 99.9% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 578 14 592 Optional 77 85 162 Total 655 99 754 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 76.7% 1.9% 78.5% Optional 10.2% 11.3% 21.5% Total 86.9% 13.1% 100.0% Defendant Representation Important: Defendants will not have an attorney known to the plaintiff at time of filing unless this is an ongoing matter. 100% pro se is to be expected in all filing reports except to the extent time passes between filing and staff review. See outcomes report for final assessment. (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0 1 1 Optional 7 746 753 Total 7 747 754 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% Optional 0.9% 98.9% 99.9% Total 0.9% 99.1% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 38 5.0% 1 602 79.8% 2 103 13.7% 3 8 1.1% 4 2 0.3% 6 1 0.1% Total 754 100.0% Note: Households may appear with zero adults due to clerical delay entering known defendants, identity protection obscuring known defendants (e.g., 42 USC Sections 13701 through 1404 Violence Against Women Act), or no adult defendants (e.g., abandonment of minors). Initiating Action Count Percent Non-payment 565 74.9% Cause 105 13.9% No Fault 74 9.8% Foreclosure 10 1.3% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Chestnut Hill 94 2 South Dennis 54 2 Seekonk 51 7 Hinsdale 49 1 Marlborough 41 16 Cohasset 39 3 Foxborough 35 6 Mattapan 32 12 Braintree 30 11 Cheshire 30 1 Worcester 29 54 Jefferson 28 1 West Brookfield 27 1 Dedham 24 6 Revere 23 12 Southbridge 23 4 Rockland 22 4 New Bedford 21 20 East Freetown 20 1 Fall River 20 18 Marstons Mills 20 1 Roxbury 20 12 Bridgewater 18 5 Cherry Valley 18 2 Quincy 18 17 South Barre 18 1 Stoughton 18 5 South Yarmouth 17 2 Randolph 15 5 Cambridge 14 15 Everett 14 6 Hyannis 14 2 Ayer 13 1 East Wareham 13 3 North Attleborough 13 4 Shirley 13 1 Upton 13 1 Westminster 13 1 Abington 12 2 Fitchburg 12 5 Georgetown 12 1 Plainville 12 1 Templeton 12 1 Brockton 11 11 Chelsea 11 4 Concord 11 2 East Weymouth 11 6 Lynn 11 10 Webster 11 2 Weymouth 11 6 Norton 10 2 Holbrook 9 1 Indian Orchard 9 1 Rochdale 9 1 West Roxbury 9 3 Dorchester 8 8 Haverhill 8 5 Lynnfield 8 1 Mansfield 8 2 Centerville 7 1 Clinton 7 1 East Bridgewater 7 1 Holliston 7 1 Kingston 7 1 Milford 7 2 North Adams 7 1 North Andover 7 2 Northborough 7 1 Oxford 7 1 Allston 6 2 Attleborough 6 3 Bellingham 6 1 Dorchester Center 6 6 Franklin 6 2 Lowell 6 7 Natick 6 2 Northbridge 6 1 Roslindale 6 2 Whitman 6 1 Beverly 5 2 Bourne 5 1 Charlestown 5 1 Malden 5 3 Westborough 5 1 Belmont 4 1 Gardner 4 1 Hingham 4 1 Leominster 4 2 Methuen 4 2 Salem 4 2 Yarmouth 4 1 Brookline 3 2 Chicopee 3 2 Danvers 3 1 Falmouth 3 1 Marshfield 3 1 Medford 3 2 Peabody 3 2 Plymouth 3 2 Tewksbury 3 1 Arlington 2 1 Brighton 2 1 Chelmsford 2 1 East Boston 2 1 Framingham 2 2 Holyoke 2 1 Hyde Park 2 1 Jamaica Plain 2 1 Pittsfield 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 Somerville 2 2 Woburn 2 1 Boston 1 10 Lawrence 1 1 Waltham 1 1 (not given) 0 316 Rate per 100,000 residents based on 2010 census. Municipalities do not appear if no evictions filed. Where neighborhoods are commonly recognized as municipalities, data appears under the neighborhood rather than the legal entity (e.g., "Roxbury" is separate from "Boston".) Where municipalities have alternate spellings (e.g., Marlboro for Marlborough), totals appear under the long form. Efforts are made to correct clerical errors in the court database, but clerical errors may appear. Rate per 100,000 County Renter Households Count Norfolk 86 74 Worcester 76 85 Plymouth 74 32 Bristol 69 57 Barnstable 56 11 Suffolk 38 76 Middlesex 28 66 Essex 26 29 Berkshire 24 4 Hampden 5 4 Dukes 0 0 Franklin 0 0 Hampshire 0 0 Nantucket 0 0 Rate per 100,000 renter households based on 2019 ACS. Counties appear even if no evictions filed. -- Data Sources (report errors to hello@masslandlords.net): County Data Households Percent Renters Barnstable 96,509 20.0% Berkshire 53,792 30.0% Bristol 220,528 37.3% Dukes 18,146 22.6% Essex 297,898 36.9% Franklin 30,927 34.1% Hampden 179,970 39.5% Hampshire 60,002 30.7% Middlesex 612,366 38.1% Nantucket 11,399 30.8% Norfolk 269,717 31.6% Plymouth 191,041 22.6% Suffolk 309,945 63.7% Worcester 316,162 35.2% County Households: 2019 ACS TableID S1101 County Households and Renters, Dukes and Nantucket: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/dukescountymassachusetts County Households and Renters, Large Counties: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=S11&g=0400000US25.050000&d=ACS%201-Year%20Estimates%20Subject%20Tables&tid=ACSST1Y2019.S1101&hidePreview=true Dukes County Renters: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/dukescountymassachusetts Nantucket County Renters: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/nantucketcountymassachusetts -- Methodology Publicly available records at MassCourts.org are read fully manually at two intervals: 1.) For a filings report, once within approximately one week of filing; 2.) For an outcomes report, once again approximately 12 to 18 months after filing. Cases are searched by 'case type' = 'summary process', party type = 'plaintiff' within date ranges, typically weekly. MassCourts.org displays matches, not cases. X plaintiffs on a single case result in X separate matches. Cases are manually de-duplicated. Where the number of matches exceeds the number displayed (e.g., 'Displaying 100 of 257 total matches.'), date ranges are reduced until all cases may be viewed. If the date range cannot be reduced (i.e., is one day) but matches still exceed the display limit of 100, then two additional passes are taken. First, municipalities are filtered in stages. Second, to capture cases with no municipality entered, the search switches from 'case type' to 'case number', guessing the missing numbers assuming serialized entry. This method results in 'matches' reconciled to case counts. This effort costs more than 1 FTE. Summary spreadsheets are produced by copying exactly what is read. The spreadsheets are processed using proprietary software. Repeated analyses of local spreadsheets does not burden the MassCourts servers. The software is developed using best practices for revision control and regression testing. Limitations: Data are snapshots. As such, we cannot track individual cases over time or produce real-time reports. MassLandlords does not have access to court databases beyond what is published in human readable form at MassCourts.org. As of this report, MassLandlords staff were not considering information available to attorneys (e.g., the contents of notices, discovery, evidence, etc.) but not available to the general public. All data presented here are readily verifiable at MassCourts.org without special permission. Information is not independently verified outside of the court record. For instance, clerical errors in address, omissions of a defendant, etc. are not readily verifiable. As this process matures, reporting algorithms may change. Transfers are counted as new cases. Clerical differences between original case and transfer (e.g., middle initial included then dropped; defendant dropped on transfer; street address spelling changed) as well as the potential for indefinite circular transferring (e.g., foreclosure cases moving between housing, land, and/or superior courts) make it very difficult to programmatically identify continuing matters. Methodology changes: 2022-03: Where docket history shows judgment and/or execution, but case has not been disposed, infer judgment and/or execution. 2022-05: Correct counting error in 'By prevailing party' section where agreement for judgment renders prevailing party unknown. Rows now sum to total. 2023-01: We now report dispositions on the basis of the last disposition found in a docket. Previously we were using a prioritized keyword match, which produced inaccurate results for complex cases. -- When Citing This Work, Please Credit: MassLandlords, Inc. Available online at https://masslandlords.net/policy/eviction-data/.